My family and I recently took a trip out west to Gloss Mountain along with some friends, with the goal of seeing the sunset. It’s a gorgeous sight, especially from the top of the plateau, as you can see the long shadows stretching and yawning as our star settles gently over the horizon…but this time that’s not really what happened at all. Or, rather, the sun definitely set (as it is wont to do and will, in all likelihood, continue for years to come unless it is beset by a plague of astrophage) but we were unable to view it, thanks to a thick blanket of clouds and, as it also happened, some very frigid air that had come sweeping through the plains earlier in the day. Undeterred, we hiked up the plateau despite the adverse conditions and made the most of the event: time with friends and family is time well spent, after all. Even if it’s cold and windy.
As we ascended the rickety path I looked to the east, dug out my Nikon D750 with the good ol’ 50mm lens, and shot the photo you see here. I was hoping to capture a photograph that showcased some semblance of the sheer scale of the landscape, and while I’m not sure I quite accomplished that goal, I do quite like how the final image turned out.
Since daylight was at a bit of a premium I had to use a bit of a larger aperture than I would have normally preferred, and shot this at f/4 in order to get not just a low ISO but a fast shutter speed to minimize movement. (A tripod and/or more light would have been ideal, but photographers aren’t always afforded the luxury of adjusting such parameters when shooting outdoors, and instead have to make the most of the situations with which they are presented.) I focused on the butte far in the distance, and I’m really happy with the result: the image is sharp, detailed, and in my opinion, does a pretty decent job of imparting a sense of scale. A road bisects the frame in the foreground, and the plains, red dirt dotted with sagebrush, recede to the horizon where the sky seems to melt all the colors into a dull gray. It’s pretty cool.
But the happy accident here, as Bob Ross might call it, is the blurry bits of brown grass slicing vertically up from the bottom of the photo. At first I was a bit annoyed since I didn’t even notice them when I took the picture, but in retrospect I quite like them. They add an extra bit of perspective, making it seem like you, the viewer, is peering out at this scene almost as if from a hidden vantage point. The blurriness, which is in no small part due to the large f/4 aperture which I would not have used on a brighter day, gives the image a bit of a dreamlike quality that complements the somber mood of the scene as a whole.
I almost didn’t bring my D750 with me when we went out here, and switching to the 50mm lens was a last-minute afterthought on my way out the door, but I’m so glad I brought both. Who knows. Maybe I’ll start bringing that lens with me a bit more…
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